There were a couple of interesting things to come out of Alaska Air Group’s first quarter earnings last week. The most interesting item? Horizon will drop all of its 20 CRJ-700 aircraft in the next 2 years. That combined with the previously announced ditching of the smaller Q200 aircraft means that the airline will only operate 48 of the 76-seat Q400s. That’s a major downscaling of the airline, but Horizon expects to be able to shrink its workforce through attrition.

It’s a very interesting move for an airline that serves some pretty long routes. What about some of those longer flights that the CR7 flew? Flights like LAX to Portland and Santa Barbara to Seattle? Assuming that’s too far for the Q400 to fly (is that even a fair assumption?), the smallest plane in the Alaska fleet will be the 737-700 which seats 124. Can they justify putting that much more capacity on some of these routes? I’m not sure.

Questions at the other end of the spectrum arose when Horizon decided to ditch its smaller Q200 aircraft. Can Wenatchee, Lewiston, and Pendleton really support flights on planes that seat 76 people? I’d be surprised. I sense some big route changes coming as they rationalize the fleet.

Meanwhile, big brother Alaska has also announced a variety of fee changes that are bound to annoy travelers, no matter how necessary they are.

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air plan to raise certain fees to better align them with the current costs of providing added services. These include increasing the charge for booking through reservations and airport sales agents from $10 to $15, raising the fee for overweight baggage from $25 to $50, increasing the charge for transporting pets in the cabin from $75 to $100 one-way, and raising the unaccompanied minor fee from $30 to $75 for one-way nonstop flights and from $60 to $75 for connecting flights. The increases are effective May 21, 2008. By summer, the airlines also will begin charging $25 for a second checked bag. First class and top-tier Mileage Plan members and customers on flights within the state of Alaska will be exempt from the new fee.

That’s a lot of change, but I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures.

How about a little airplane porn for the weekend? Horizon had to repaint all those planes formerly flying as Frontier JetExpress anyway, so they decided to have a little fun with it. Now, Oregon, Oregon St, Washington, and Washington St will all have their own painted airplanes.

Dear Horizon, any chance of a GW plane? Ok, you may not fly anywhere near my alma mater, so that’s probably too much to ask, but how about painting ones for the rest of the PAC-10? You fly to the airports nearest to Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, and USC. Ok, so you don’t fly to Phoenix or Tucson for ASU and UA, but Alaska does. I like the idea.

While other airlines are waiting for tax relief to help their short haul flights thrive, Horizon Air has decided to go on the offensive with a great marketing campaign.

Short haul flights have struggled as airport security requirements have become more and more annoying and time consuming. People just don’t want to deal with the hassle of limiting liquids, waiting in long lines, and sitting in weather delays for a higher cost than just driving yourself, especially when the drive isn’t much longer than the flight.

You’d think that Horizon would be hit pretty hard with this shift, especially on their bread and butter route from Portland to Seattle - the Horizon Air Shuttle. The drive is 174 miles from downtown to downtown, so driving should be far easier than flying, but Horizon’s new campaign plays on the “horrors” you’ll find while driving through what they call The Slog.

They have apparently channeled Ken Burns for this “documentary” (I still can’t get that music from The Civil War of my head) about the mythical drive on I-5 between Seattle and Portland. If you head to the site, you’ll see an overview video about why you should fly, but then they have short snippets on points along the way that’ll make you cringe. The beauty of this is that it talks about specific points on the drive that probably exist on every route around the country, so even if you don’t drive this particular route you’ll find the videos amusing.

There’s Ticketown - the speedtrap where all the tickets issued if lined end to end would stretch to Mars three times over. And don’t forget Filthy John’s Holler where the bathrooms are so dirty, possibly because the only mop there was lost decades ago. The worst? How about Crab Apple Flats - mile 95 where you lose one lane on the road and it results in horrible backups that test the wills of all who pass.

I can’t remember having driven this road myself, but I can certainly relate because they’re problems we all face somewhere. When they contrast this with Horizon’s half hourly flights that have now seen unrestricted fares lowered to $99 each way, those flights start to sound a lot better. In fact, I’ve got a driving trip to Vegas next weekend, and it’s made me cross my fingers for a last minute flight deal. (Not holding my breath)